Slaine Troyard
Slaine Troyard is one of the protagonists of the ALDNOAH.ZERO television series, who eventually took over from Count Saazbaum as its main antagonist in the show's second season. History Slaine was born on Earth. His father was a scientist sent to study the ALDNOAH drives. He and his father were rescued by the royal family, having to work under them, he slowly developed a strong bond with the Princess. Because he was born on Earth, he faces a lot of discrimination from the people of Mars. After finding out Princess Asseylum was alive, he tracked her down using his only lead, an orange KG-6 Sleipnir, which was piloted by Kaizuka Inaho. Stealing an aircraft, he flew towards Earth where it was last sighted. After locating the mecha, he shot down a missile from the enemy Martian Kataphrakt- actually the Kataphrakt's rocket-powered, monomolecular armor fist. Assisting with Inaho's fight against the Kataphrakt, they were able to defeat it with their combined skills. However, Inaho later shot him down, fearing Slaine might have been an assassin. Recaptured by the Orbital Knights, Slaine was beaten, but did not reveal anything. After the Orbital Knights were reassured of his loyalty, they began to tend to his injuries when the base was attacked by Count Saazbaum, who had masterminded the plot to assassinate Princess Asseylum. Slaine was rescued by Saazbaum. Slaine remained in Saazbaum's Landing Castle until it was attacked by the United Forces of Earth. Slaine discovered he could activate Aldnoah Drives and activated the mecha Tharsis, formerly belonging to Cruhteo, and engaged in combat with Inaho until Asseylum deactivated the Aldnoah Drive, and all Vers Kataphrakts. Slaine witness Saazbaum shoot Asseylum, and is infuriated, shooting him several times, but did not finish him off, instead only wounding Saazbaum. Slaine then shot Inaho and severely wounded him, believing him to be dead. Slaine gives Saazbaum two choices: bring the comatose princess with him as they escape in Tharsis, or be captured by the UFE. Saazbaum chose the former, and he and Asseylum were taken to a Martian orbital base. 19 months later, Asseylum is still comatose, but Saazbaum has recovered and his knighted Slaine, who is now Tharsis' regular pilot. Saazbaum is also producing propaganda videos featuring Princess Lemrina Vers Envers disguised as Asseylum. Saazbaum also plans to overthrow Rayregalia Vers Rayvers and his feudal government once he succeeds in his conquest of Earth. Slaine agrees wholeheartedly with this plan, and, after multiple successes in battle, names Slaine his successor and adopted son. Slaine, however, has not forgiven Saazbaum for his attempted assassination of the princess, and uses Tharsis's advance prediction computers to predict where Saazbaum's mech will be during a coming battle in 24 hours. Slaine fires two bursts of rounds into orbit from Tharsis' guns. After engaging in combat with Inaho Kaizuka and other Terran forces during the battle of Trident orbital base, Saazbaum's mech is hit crippled by these orbiting rounds. Slaine reveals the reasons for his betrayal, shortly before the second volley impacts Saazbaum's mech and kills him. Slaine then assumed Saazbaum's title of Count, becoming known as Count Slaine Saazbaum Troyard. Shortly after taking Saazbaum's title, Slaine is challenged to a duel by Count Marylcian, who believes (correctly) that he assassinated Saazbaum in order to take power. The duel, which take place in their Kataphrakts, initially goes in Marylcian's favor thanks to his Kataphrakt, Herschel's multiple attack drones, however, Slaine lures the drones into a narrow service tunnel, using it as a choke point and shooting down all of them. Slaine then attack Herschel directly, forcing open the hatch and releasing Marylcian into the vacuum of space, killing him instantly. After defeating Marylcian, Slaine knights his former manservant, Harklight, and gives him command of Herchel, and also tells Harklight to arrange for several of his politcal enemies to be eliminated. Meanwhile, Lemrina declares her intent to marry Slaine while disguised as Asseylum, making him the heir to the Versian throne. Slaine orders the Versian knights to fight together, rather than competing for territory on Earth, in order to speed up the conquest of the planet. Slaine's plans are complicated, however, by Mazuurek, a Vers count captured by the UFE and covertly released by Inaho Kaizuka and Rayet Areash after they reveal their suspicions that the "Princess Asseylum" in the Vers propaganda videos is an imposter, as well as telling him to return a locket that belonged to Asseylum to her. The real Asseylum wakes up from her coma, but with amnesia, which Slaine attempts to prolong to hide evidence of his actions which went entirely against the princess' wishes for peace. This plan is ruined when both Lemrina and Mazuurek discover Slaine's deception and gives Asseylum the locket, which triggers the return of her memories of Slaine shooting Inaho. Lemrina visits her sister shortly afterwards, originally intending to kill her, but she is somehow persuaded by Asseylum to side with her against Slaine. This leads to Asseylum attempting to order Slaine to cease hostilities at gunpoint, however, Slaine orders his men to arrest both princesses and confine them to their chambers. Personality and Appearance Slaine is a teenage boy of average height with blonde hair. He wears the uniform of the Mars Orbital Knights. Slaine is shown to be very friendly with Princess Asseylum, being completely loyal to her. When presented with the possibility of her being alive, he boldly went after her alone. His loyalty to the princess can be further attested by the fact that even when he was being tortured, he would still not reveal that Asseylum was alive. Abilities Slaine is shown to be a capable aircraft pilot able to handle fast and tricky maneuvers. (ALDNOAH.ZERO: "Beyond the Horizon") He is later shown to possess the power to activate an Aldnoah Drive and to be a skilled pilot of the mecha Tharsis. Relationships *'Asseylum Vers Allusia': He holds a deep admiration for the princess, and he is also grateful to her for saving his life. He is infuriated when she is shot by Saazbaum and placed into a coma, an act he later avenges by killing Saazbaum. Slaine also believes in her ideal of peace, but ends up twisted by Saazbaum's influence, believing it to only be possible through the conquest of Earth. *'Saazbaum': Slaine harbors hatred for Saazbaum for killing Asseylum, though he hides it for long enough to manipulate Saazbaum in to declaring him his succesor. Slaine also adopts Saazbaum's view that a more egalitarian regime must replace the feudal goverment on Mars. *'Inaho Kaizuka': The two fought together briefly. Their encounter ended with Inaho shooting Slaine down, believing him to be the enemy. Later on, Slaine guns Inaho down following Asseylum's death. Trivia *Slaine Troyard's constant suffering throughout the series has become something of a meme among the anime community, as has the division of much of the Aldnoah Zero fanbase between sympathy and hatred for Slaine. *Slaine himself has been compared to several other characters. **For instance, he has been compared to Homura Akemi in that, in that both characters, in their attempts to protect and fulfill the wishes their love interest, end up alienating them by doing the exact opposite of their love interest's wishes. **Slaine has also been compared to Lelouch vi Britannia, as both are masters of manipulation, strategy, and are expert mech pilots. **Slaine has also been compared to members of House Lannister from Game of Thrones, for both his talent for manipulation, betrayal, and deception, as well as his blonde hair. His apparent murder of Inaho Kaizuka and Saazbaum at the end of episode 12 was even referred to as "The Red Landing" after the infamous Red Wedding planned by Tywin Lannister in Game of Thrones. **Slaine is the Char clone of Aldnoah.Zero, as he was the main rival and had exceptional mecha piloting skills. Category:Anime Villains Category:Protagonist Villain